This is where I share my passion for music and support the bands I like ...expect intense, passionate, and radical stuff from this blog.

lundi 30 juillet 2012

XII Boar-Split tongue cloven hoof

XII Boar is UK's new heavy metal juggernaut. These guys are determined to bring down anything that would stand in their way. Just listen to their latest EP Split tongue cloven hoof and you'll see that they have what is needed for doing so. They have the firepower, and they have the groove. And I mean a massive groove.

-to start with can you present the band? Is the name XII boar because the music you play is mighty and wild?

Haha yeah you could say that! Whilst that's completely true, the name XII Boar (pronounced
'Twelve Boar') is actually a play on words. It's in reference to a 12
bore shotgun. It's a powerful, blasting and unstoppable weapon, which is
something that our music shares with it's namesake.

The
band was formed back in early 2010 by the three of us; Tommy Hardrocks
(Guitar & Vocals), Adam Thomas (Bass & Vocals) and myself - Dave
Wilbraham (Drums). We all shared a taste for serious groove-laden riffage, dirty bass lines and pure, balls to the wall rock n' roll.So we jammed in the rehearsal room for about a year finding 'our sound' before releasing our debut EP - 'XII' - in January 2011.

Since then it's been a non-stop hurricane of gigging and blowing the roof off every venue we encounter!

-do you play or have played in other bands?

Well I currently also play in an straight-up doom metal band called Witchsorrow,
but the three of us collectively have all played in bands together in
the past. Myself and Adam used to be in a hardcore band called Digital Autopsy
for many years, which eventually fizzled out. After that we were in and
out of various groups. Actually, a couple of years before we started XII Boar, we created the first incarnation of the band under the name of Black Wizard, it only lasted a few months but it was essentially a primitive, stripped down version of the band we are today.

-what can you say about 'Split Tongue, Cloven Hoof'?

'Split
Tongue, Cloven Hoof' is a 20 minute full-on assault of big time stoner
groove, searing thrash attacks and furious bluesy riffs. In four sweet
tracks we've honed our sound and delivered a punishing taster of things
to come. If you wanna know what XII Boar's all about, then crack this
bad boy on and find out!

It's completely free to download from our website too over at www.xiiboar.com

-you released two short records, when will be the time for your first full length?

We're
currently working on it as you read this! The plan is to release our
first full-length by the start of 2013. We've written about five new
tracks so far, which are absolute bangers! It's everything people come
to want from XII Boar - slamming grooves, thundering riffs, blistering
solos - but so much more. We're setting out to define who were are as a
band. To those who've never heard us and to those who have, we want
everyone to know that we mean serious business and that XII Boar are
gonna reshape the face of the metal/stoner scene.

-I
think one of your strengths is that you bring back the classical heavy
metal guitar solo into stoner/groove metal, do you agree?

Agreed!

-To
follow the same idea I think your music sounds really rooted in
classical heavy metal/hard rock, but at the same time feature more
modern elements (the fat guitar sound, the vocals). Is it intentional or
just a result of your different influences?

It
was never intentional to write the music that we do, it all happened
very organically. Obviously we're gonna take influence from the bands
were grew up listening to and the music we like today, but we've never
sat down and said "Hey, let's write a riff that sounds exactly like
Clutch". It's more a case of getting in the studio and just jamming
anything and everything until something sticks.

Our
individual influences do help, we're not just into rock/metal, we're
inspired by all kinds of music; for example Tommy used to play in a
reggae band! I think what gives us our own sound is the fact that we're
not afraid to step outside the boundaries of our genre, too many bands
are so fixated on being 'true' to their style by sticking to that
well-trodden formula, we just think; fuck that we'll do whatever we
like! I mean you don't hear any other stoner rock bands throwing in
thrash riffs, double kick drums and slayer solos! You can't be afraid to
try new things, we've always just played riffs that make us want to
bang our heads and crack open an ice cold beer.

-you
say that 'Split Tongue, Cloven Hoof' - “is the kind of EP that has
Orange Goblin and Motorhead looking over their shoulders”, do you really
thinks that one day you could headline and play with Motorhead as
support band?

Definitely!
You've always got to believe in what you do 100%, if there's any doubt
in your mind then you might as well pack up your gear and call it a day
now. If you always think positively then there's no limit to what you
can achieve. So those big boys had better watch their backs!

-when will you tour Europe? And the USA?

We'd
love to tour outside of the UK! Right now, we're trying to find a label
who'll help us on our way. But we'd jump at any opportunity to play
abroad, we just wanna smash the hell out of as many venues as we can and
spread our music to the far reaches of the globe. We're constantly
getting emails and facebook messages from fans in different countries
sending their praise and asking when we'll tour their country and the
answer is: All in good time, it won't be long now!

-which bands from the UK would you recommend?

There's
so many great bands out there in the UK at the moment, too many to
mention here really. But some you have to check out are Steak,
Wolfshead, Grifter, Limb, Diesel King, Desert Storm, Gurt,
Slabdragger... the list goes on!

-tell us a joke!

What do you call a cat in a pharmacy?Puss in Boots!

(This is currently Adam's favourite joke...)

-what is planned for XII boar in 2012?

Loads!
We're actually working on a stop-gap release between the full length
being finished and now. This is all a bit hush-hush at the moment so I
won't mention too many details, but it's going to be a split vinyl with
another band we know rather well...

-something to say in conclusion?

Just
wanna say thanks to every who's supported us over the last year and a
half; the fans, the bands, the promoters. Anyone who's given us the time
of day basically. Cheers to you guys, 2012 has been one hell of a year
so far and it's only going to get better. Let the good times roll, see
you on the road!

samedi 28 juillet 2012

Sonne adam-transformation

with their first album called Transformation and released last year by century media, Sonne adam ("he wo hates man" in hebrew) from Tel aviv, Israel, hit a major blow and gain the reputation of a band that matters in the death metal scene. as many bands they are heavily influenced by the old school US bands and mostly Morbid angel, but they do it better than most. They really master the art of writing slow /mid tempo death metal songs with mysterious and menacing atmosphere and they do a good job in the weird melodies and the occasionnal dissonant riffs.

not original but a verys trong record for those who dig that kind of death metal.

vendredi 27 juillet 2012

Alaric / Atriarch split

this is a split between bands from the american west coast (Oakland / Portland) playing a slow and dark music. both have released good full lenght records last year (self titled for Alaric, Forever the End for Atriarch). And this slit is also really good. 3 songs for Alaric, 2 for Atriarch, around 25 min of music.

Alaric's music is a kind of dark and melancolic slow tempo post punk (think Joy division, The swans, the best and darkest moments of early The Cure, stuff like that).

Atriarch's music is dark melodic doom with death/black metal elements.

mercredi 25 juillet 2012

INTHESHIT-This failed jokes over

They are from Boston and they play grindcore. Intheshit had already released demos (2009-2010) and an EP "king of the grindcore jungle" (2011), which are really good. They now are back with a cool album called This failed jokes over. it's somewhat different from what they did, seems to me that they slowed down a bit (they kept many fast parts and still are grindcore) and added a heavy dirty sludge touch, the results sounding a bit like a clash between Crowbar and grind. Too me it's a good move cause they gained in groove what they may have lost in speed and they now are doing something more different from other grind bands. The vocals also are special, most of it is semi spoken and understandable, reminding a bit Henry Rollins. to sum it up Intheshit offer with "this failed jokes over" a special and really strong record. recommended!

mardi 24 juillet 2012

Iron lamb-The original sin

The original sin, by Iron lamb and released last year by Pulverised records is swedish hard rock at its best. Iron lamb features members or ex-members of General surgery, Dismember, Exhumed, Dellamorte, Ghost and others, these guys are not newcomers! Their music sounds like a mix of Turbonegro, Motorhead (they cover "poison") and old school speed metal (remembering at times the first Metallica, Kill'em all, or Mercyul fate maybe).

The result is really cool no bullshit hard rock with a fucking attitude!

lundi 23 juillet 2012

Shoveit!-Hated by all

Shoveit! from the UK just released this grindpunk record (grindpunk/powerviolence with a a drum machine) called Hated by all. It's fifteen tracks (the longest one is 36 seconds!) full of grinding groove and sonic violence with typical grind vocals, a huge chainsaw like guitar sound and grind/d-beat rythm with the drum machine. It's their first record (after a demo) and it's really a cool start. such a loud and abrasive music can sure be hated by lot of people but I'm sure that grind lovers like me will like it!

yeah we are shoveit! simon (vocals &
drums) and greg (vocals and guitar) from the depths of south england,
and we play fast raw grinding punk violence or try to!!

-you just released your first (if we don’t count the demo) record, can you describe it?

an all out assault from start to finish. we wanted to make something that from when you pressed play you didnt wanna turn off.

-can you tell us how the songs were written/recorded/produced?

basically guitar and drums were laid down
first, then lyrics and vocals last. we recorded about 41 songs and 18
made the original cut for hated by all, then we took 3 tracks off which
didnt go well in the end. we have around 20 more tracks that will see
the light of day at some point.

-are you going to tour to present this new record? How are your live shows?

this is hard due to family and work
commitments. but we have a couple of festivals lined up over here in the
uk. and when we can we will play as many shows as possible.

-in your opinion what is grindcore? Why do you like it?

grindcore to me is all about raw no holds
barred passion. ive always loved the no frills bare essentials side to
it, you dont get from conventional metal. ive always loved that l.a
powerviolence scene. bands like despise you, dropdead, lack of interest
to name a few. it represents everything enjoy about this kind of music.

-are you coming from a metal background or a punk background, or both?

if im honest my roots are all over the place. i love it slow, and fast.

-what are the lyrics of the songs about?

29 years on this planet, and all the shit that comes with it. broken promises, and bullshit tradition.

-the
visual for your records are different, are you tired of the typical
grind/crust records cover arts with grey photography of war/starving
children or stuff like that?

i wouldnt say it is different. i just had a
concept for what i wanted the release to represent and i think we
captured it well. like i said before the album is about everyday
struggle and being put down from the moment you wake till you go to
sleep for it to all start again, and being strong enough to overcome it.

-which bands from your area would you recommend?

one of my favourite bands from our small
area has to be "Cachexic" (who just until recently split up). theres a
few other bands up and coming who i like "Human Cull" is one, and "Cast
Iron Jaw".

-is the UK a good place for playing grind?

yes and no, its hard anywhere to play
shows when you are in the "scene" but when you do its hell of alot of
fun, although there are alot of posers, people who come to the shows
majorily love the music and respect the bands.

-any last words?

thanks for the support its meant alot and keeps us going to make more
music. look for our next release before the end of the year, either and
album or split or both. big thanks for Blastingdays peace

dimanche 22 juillet 2012

Torch runner-Commited to the ground

recently released by To live a lie record, Commited to the ground by Torch runner is really an intense record. it's taking the "worst" from chaotic hardcore and grindcore, like a clash between Converge and Rotten sound, and the result is quite terrific. Mostly really short (around 1 min) and fast songs, ewept two songs that shows a kind of sludge side of the band. the songs are really well crafted and executed with a deadly precision.

If you like the most brutal hardcore or chaotic/hardcore grind with a dark feel then you have to listen to this record.

vendredi 20 juillet 2012

Traveling circle-Handmade house

Traveling circle is a Brooklyn based psychedelic rock trio. They released this year a really good record called Handmade house. The record is filled with beautiful and original melodies (guitar and vocals). It sounds like a good ol' 60/70' psychedelic records but with a modern and bizarre twist that makes it more interesting than the good retro bands. And the vocals are really special, reminding me sometimes of Mike Patton on his melodic moments (but without sounding like a Patton clone).

If you're into melodic garage bands or into psychedelic rock you'll be happy to discover Traveling circle.

jeudi 19 juillet 2012

Seven sisters of sleep

Seven sisters of sleep comes form Orange County, California and have been taking the sludge scene by storm in the last couple of years. They released a first self titled album with Southern lord in 2010, a split with Children of god last year on A389 recordings, and now a self titled 7' also on A389. Three really inspired and crushing records. The recipe is classical sludge but with some more brutality added (even death metal elements like blastbeat parts here and there). Every song is well crafted with cool riffs and rythmic parts bringing a lot of groove with the heaviness and brutality.

mardi 17 juillet 2012

Coke bust / Vaccine split

This is a new split with Coke bust and Vaccine, two prominent bands of the fastcore / powerviolence scene.

Coke bust is more on the DC staight edge side of this scene and Vaccine is more "classic" fastcore. Both are killer bands and this split don't disapoint. 4 Coke bust songs, 5 Vaccine songs. this split is a non stop delivery of the more pissed off and fast harcore you can have.

dimanche 15 juillet 2012

Angles-every woman is a tree

Angles is a jazz quintet (sax, trombone, trumpet, vibraphone, double bass and drums) from Sweden. Their music sounds a bit like a meeting between John Coltrane and Mulatu Astatke (they actualy met in fact, but unfortunately they didn't played together), somewhere between free jazz and Ethio-jazz. The result is brilliant, with quiet beautiful moments but also frenetic full of energy moments. Every woman is a tree (2008) is their first record and it's dedicated to the women's in times of war they are the branches which the children can cling to). They also relesed a live album in 2010 (called Epileptical west), also really good. great songs, tight musicianship, this is a highly recommended record if you like the wild and african inspired jazz.

samedi 14 juillet 2012

Burning love-Rotten thing to say

like hardcore? like hard rock? then chances are you'll like Burning love, a band playing a cool mix of the two. Their singer is Chris Colohan (ex-Cursed, Left for dead, The swarm), and Rotten thingto say is their second full lenght record released recently by Southern lord (recorded by Kurt Ballou, mastered by Allan Douches). But it's not the typical "darkened hardcore" band that are flooding us these days, Burning love is way more on the rock'n'roll side of hardcore. A great record filled with cool riffs and solos, cool vocals, and fuelled with all the energy hardcore and hard rock can bring.

vendredi 13 juillet 2012

Parasytic-poison minds

Parasytic is the reunion of members of Alabama thunderpussy / Hail!hornet and Cannabis corpse. They released a record called Poison minds last year with Relapse records. Poison minds can be described as an heavy mix of Discharge, old Sepultura and Municipal waste, it's eight crossover songs filled with d-beat, crust and trashy riffing with a crushing sound, punk solos, speed, heaviness and groove. A cool no bulshit old school sounding trashy crust record with a lot of metal heaviness and brutality added.

jeudi 12 juillet 2012

Disastroid-Money and guilt

Coming from San Fransisco, Disastroid plays some good rocking heavy and melodic music, reminding a bit of bands like QOTSA or The Melvins. their new record (released in june 2012) called Money and guilt is eight songs filled with buzzing bass, heavy guitars,trippy instrumental moments, groovy drumming and cool hard rock vocals.

mercredi 11 juillet 2012

Antediluvian / Adversarial split

Antediluian released in 2011 one of the best death metal record of the year (called "Through the cervix of Hawwah"), so I'm very pleased to see that they are releasing something new. And even more pleased (but not surprised) that this released is also really good.

the split is three song for each band.

Adversarial, also coming from Canada plays in a similar vein and is also really good, cool discovery for me. It's old school raw and dirty death metal with a kind of dark occult atmosphere (it's brutal but I'd say the focus is more on creating a strange morbid atmosphere).

Antediluvian music goes in a similar direction but is maybe more complex, weird and dissonant. If you liked their previous record you won't be disapointed.

lundi 9 juillet 2012

Blackbird raum

Blackbird raum plays accoustic anarcho-punk or contemporary folk punk music with anarchist themes. since it gives a good idea of what the band is about I'll cite one of their internet page : "Blackbird Raum formed out of the nucleus of a squatter community living
in abandoned buildings and greenbelt treehouses in Santa Cruz, CA, in
the early 2000's. Finding themselves living without electricity, they
began to learn to play folk instruments from each other and other
members of the traveling punk/folk culture. They all grew up playing in
anarcho-punk, indie and ska bands and then, knowing next to nothing
about traditional music, slowly gathered together the skills to create a
new genre of music, based somewhere right in the middle of punk and
folk.
Refusing the retro cliches of many of their contemporaries, they write
entirely original music (in both senses of the word) that is reflective
of the world they live in: a realm of abusive police, ecological
devastation, creeping ambiguity and vague fear, but also a strong sense
of community and a deep love of a natural world constantly on the verge
of collapse. They toured the country in a tiny truck, playing mainstream
folk festivals, punk houses, squats and all ages clubs. When they
aren't touring, they play various American and European traditional
music, hang out in the woods, raise children and read a lot of library
books".

but what's also really important to add is that their music is really cool, very good acoustic songs played with a true punk vibe and energy.

they released a few records, among which "Swidden" (2009) is really good and you can listen to it on Bandcamp.

samedi 7 juillet 2012

Livstid

Livstid is a band formed in 2006 in Bergen (Norway). they play of kind of really radical and relentless crust/d-beat often bordering on grindpunk (blastbeats here and there among other things). They released in 2011 a really good self titled record, one of the more merciless and intense record you can have in that style. they also released a good split with Human error (really good powerviolence from Hungary). They play fats and angry, with furious vocals in norwegian, good riffs, cool punk basslines, and above all a fast and pissed off execution that's hard to match (reminds me of Impaled nazarene at times).

vendredi 6 juillet 2012

Dead End Alaska / Dead End Sons-Family and friends vol.1

Cool split (out in june 2012) between Dead end Alaska and Dead end sons, two american bands (CA and GA) playing a kind of screamo, a bit more punk/hardcore for Dead end Alaska and a bit more post rock for Dead end sons, both really good at doing what they do.

A strong point for both bands is the vocals, the singers having a good ability at passing emotions and intensity through their singing. Both bands are also really good at writing simple, memorable and good songs in a good and honest staight to the point rock fashion.

The split is five good songs, ending with a cool acoustic one. recommended!

Josh from Dead End Alaska kindly agreed to answer to some questions so you can read it below :

-can you present Dead End Alaska, how did the band formed and its evolution up to now?

DEA formed in the Summer of 2010 after the disillusion of most of the
members former band. I know this is said a lot but this band really does
consist of good friends, 4 out of 5 of us went to the same high school
and have known each other since well before that and have only had one
member change. We formed with a very unclear vision of what we wanted
to be, torn between different influences and a stylistic change that was
occuring in most of us. For the first year we really just wanted to
play a lot of shows, not really knowing where we fit in musically we
just played every type of show that was presented to us. In a way this
was good because it let us mature and figure out what we wanted to be
and now we have a pretty clear vision of where we want to go musically.

-how would you describe your music?

Too mainstream for the non mainstream and too non mainstream for the mainstream

-do you feel like being part of an emo/scremo scene?

We think that this scene has some of the most amazing people in it.
People who actually have something to say, or have something emotion
they want to convey with their music. People who actually want to do
something other than get facebook and play huge shows. There is
something very special about this breed of music.

-how did you get in touch with Dead end sons and decided to do a split with them?

We actually found them by googling our own name through facebook. Our
guitarist Kyle showed us them and we thought they were awesome so I
(Josh) decided to send them an email and talk to them about joining us
for the first part of Friends and Family.

-what about the making of this split, how the songs were written, recorded, etc.?

The songs came together fairly fast for the split actually, which was
really surprising because usually we work on something for 2 weeks then
throw it away and that process repeats until we get something we all
like. Our guitars usually come up with the general framework of the song
and then we come together to write and fill in the blanks. Once we got
them all hashed out we went to Easy St. studios in Simi Valley where
we recorded our last demo "American Made Bastard Boys" in Nov. We just
took one day to knock out both songs and a bonus song. We always have a
blast there because the owner Jules, rules. He has some creative ideas
and is just a hilarious dude in general.

-what can you say about the lyrics of your songs?

In our music we really like to focus on lyrical content, we think it is
the most important thing about a song. Both Kyle S. and Josh write
lyrics and in Friends and Family we decided to write about just what the
title suggested. Wasp Wars is a follow up to the acoustic bonus track
on the split, "acoustic Koala" which was a remake of a song on our last
demo. Both songs having to do with a family struggling with substance
abuse and the personal conflict and realizations that come along with
having parents who have substance abuse problems. One song being about a
mother and the other a father. Forest Fox was a beautifully written
song about a close friends who joined the military and started
encountering self doubt. The song is a reminder of the strength
friendship can give you and how bonds like family and friends are what
matter.

- the split is called Family and friends vol1, are you preparing a volume 2?

Yes, we are planning a part 2 now which we hope to announce soon. We
have not yet found the perfect partner for the split but the general
concept of Family and Friends is to have two parts, the first focusing
on the more melodic side of our music and volume two will focus more on
the darker side of what we can convey. With this split series we are
attempting to explore both sides of the post hardcore/screamo spectrum
and really see what areas we can touch and pull off.

-which bands from your area would you recommend?

SO MANY! Troubled Coast, Love American, Wolves, Life For A Life,
Trap Her Keep Her, City Somewhere, Bad Days, Spirit Fangs, Stay Wild, My
Iron Lung, and so so many more!

-want to add something?

Biggest thing you can do to help the music scene is support live music. I
know there is a lot of music out there and it can be exhausting to try
and support everything you like but it means so much for the scene for
people to go to shows!

mercredi 4 juillet 2012

Thedowngoing-athousandyearsofdarkness

Athousandyearsofdarkness is the new 12 tracks 10 min record by aussie grinding band thedowngoing (HERE's a review of their previous record with an interview). It will be release the 20th of july. They managed to keep their "furious maelstrom of chaotic and noisy as fuck grind nightmare" sound while at the same time writing songs that sounds a bit more like songs, maybe because it's maybe more focused on guitars and more straight to your face (or maybe I'm just getting used to the amout of violence they deliver!). anyway the damage done is still huge and awfull and it's great! I think it's my favourite thedowngoing record yet.

You can grab it on slim CD or just listen to some songs on their BLOG and also on their BC. Highly recommended for sonic apocalypse lovers!

Mathias Huxley answered to my questions about this new record, the tours and the next thedeowngoing releases :

-you’re releasing a new record called “athousandyearsof darkness”, what can you say about it?

ATHOUSANDYEARSOFDARKNESS is 12 tracks, ten minutes and change. Big noisy
guitar, blastbeats, screaming and of course samples. We worked with
Jono Boulet on ATYOD, and he really pushed us and our sound further, and
i think it shows with the final product, as it takes the foundation
laid down with 2011's Untitled EP and builds from there.

-seems
to me that the songs, even if it still sounds really chaotic and noisy
as fuck, are more guitar/riff s focused, is it just an impression?

We've been together as a band for a few years now, and feel that, with
regards to song-writing, that we have taken some bigger steps this time
round. There was more focus on each song, and trying to work with the
structure and pacing to create some unique moments, while still trying
to maintain the cohesiveness across the entire record.

-the
lyrics (printed on the record booklet) sound a bit like
desperate/apocalyptic poetry, what can you say about it? How was it
written? Do you write only for thedowngoing or not only?

The lyrics are written with the song, and start forming and taking
shape as a song moves from the creative process into the recording
process. I suppose the lyrics are an extension of the music and noise,
offering some personal insight into the aural suffering. Apocalyptic
poetry is quite fitting, really. I only write for tdg and personal
enjoyment.

-have you already played the new songs in live shows?

We're playing the majority of the new songs on tour at the
moment, and are having a blast watching the reaction from our fans. The
new songs are so much fun to play live, and roll along with an intensity
that keeps both of us on our toes.

-apart from the tour what is planned for thedowngoing?

thedowngoing is doing an Australian tour through July and August. In the
coming months we will be featured on Blastbeat Productions Monomaniac
7" Compilation series, and are planning a split cassette tape with WATER
TORTURE for our USA tour with them and CLOUD RAT in November and
December.

-have you discovered cool bands recently? Which is your favourite record for 2012 yet?

There has been some sweet new grind dropping in the last few weeks, but
my top release for 2012 would be Shlohmo's Bad Vibes... perfect
laid-back tunes for driving down the freeway on a beautiful day.

mardi 3 juillet 2012

Black cowgirl

Black cowgirl is a band form Pennsylvania and they're about to release their first and self titled full lenght (in july). Their music has all the qualities of good stoner rock, so if you're into Stoner or heavy/fuzzy hard rock I recommend you lsiten to what they play. On their Bandcamp they write "The band originally created riffs as servants for themselves but freed them when they became too much to handle", and indeed they master the art of wild rocking riffing! but it's not just cool riffs but also cool songs, with good groove and melodies, and the vocals are great, meodic but still hard rocking.

The coming record will feature 6 songs from their EP, that you can listen on their Bandcamp.and also 5 new songs (of the same quality), you can listen to the new song called "weight of oblivion" HERE. Enjoy!

Ben McGuire agreed to answers to my questions (and did it in a humourous way that seem to be a trademark of the band!) :

-can you present the band, why did you form it, how it evolved, etc…? and why the name Black cowgirl?

In
March 2008 Ben (me), then aged twenty something, formed a skiffle group
with several friends from Chester County. We briefly called ourselves
the Beatles, before changing our name to Black Cowgirl after discovering
that a respected group from across some pond was already using the
name. Twenty some-year-old Nate joined as a guitarist shortly after he
and I met that July. In February 2008 we invited our friend Mark to
watch the group. The fourteen-year-old auditioned for me, and we were
impressed by his playing but initially thought him too young for the
band. After a month of persistence, Mark joined as drummer. The three
piece, billing ourselves at least three times as Benny and the Moondogs,
were playing rock and roll whenever we could find a bassist. My brother
in law friend Chris, who had recently sold one of his nude paintings
and purchased a bass guitar, joined in January 2009, and it was I who
suggested changing the band's name to Black Cowgirl as a tribute to my
fantasy of a female version of Yul Brenner in the movie Westworld. We
used the name through May, when we opened for English band Viking
Skull.......

- How would you describe your music? Stoner rock with some classic rock roots?

I
would describe us as rock. I feel like “stoner rock” is pretty much
just people playing classic rock now..... which used to be called just
“rock” when it was new. I guess that would make stoner rock from now
viewed from the future “classic stoner rock” and first generation rock
“oldies” and the futures name for “rock” will be another term that will
cram in more words than nessary to describe it’s sound......something
like “naked lady future drugs hoverboard rock”. I guess we will go with
that.

-how did you get into this kind of music? And do you play or have played in other bands?

I
was raised on a greasy diet of classic rock (if you are reading this
from the future you will know this style to be oldies rock). Luckily my
parents had pretty good taste in music and there were always records
around for me to listen to.

I
was in bands since high school, ranging from punk to metal to doom,
Aston Family Reunion (guitar/vocals), Fisticuffs (guitar), and Electric
Horsemen (guitar/vocals) to name a few. Our drummer Mark played in
Backwoods Payback and Nate also plays guitar in Unkle Matt and The
Shitbirdz. Chris also played bass in Electric Horsemen. I am sure there
are other bands they played in but I hate to dwell on the ex's. Just
thinking of other dudes crawling all over them with their riffs and
whatnot.......makes me sick.

-how was your new album written and recorded?

We
had the chance to do the vinyl release that comes out this August and
needed more songs than our 6 song Ep to fill it out. So we recorded 5
more songs for side B of the vinyl. The newer ones were written around
the same time as the Ep but we did not have time to record them last
year.

We
self recorded songs 1-6 last year in a couple of evenings at Westtown
Lake Studios so we could have something to bring along for a tour we
did. The second half (7-11) were recorded a couple months ago at The
Dome with Rich Gavalis. Rich had also mixed the ep so when we went in to
do the new ones we were able to make them blend together pretty decent,
especially considering they were recorded a year apart and in totally
different rooms.

-what about the lyrics of the songs?

Very
rarely do I have a idea for lyrics before the music is written. Once
there a rough draft of a song I tend to just let whatever I feel come
out without thinking about it at all and work from there. I think if you
go with what words come out naturally they are usually more honest and
reflective of the feel of the song. It seems to work for me, I always
end up blurting out a line that surprises me and gets things rolling for
the rest of the lyrics. Until the song is done I don’t really know what
it is going to be about. Whenever I sit down and try to write lyrics
they come out pretty cheesy, using my lightning rod method on the other
hand works, and if they come out cheesy that way at least I did not try
too hard!!

-you
told me that you’ll be playing in the east coast with The company band
in july, I guess you are exited to play your new songs? What else is
planned for the rest of 2012?

Yes!
We are very eager to get out and play, we wish we could tour much more
often!!! Hopefully we have the chance to hop on some other tours this
year and we hope to be back in the studio toward the end of the year as
well. We have about 60% of the next record written and are already
looking toward the record after that one!

-with which band would you dream to play?

I
would love to play with, Clutch, Neil Young, Down, Wovenhand, Graveyard
(again), I could go on forever.....if I had a time machine my keyboard
would catch fire from the list i would create.

lundi 2 juillet 2012

Warfuck-The weak and the wicked

Warfuck is a duo from Lyon (France) and their first full lenght called The weak and the wicked (out in april 2012) demonstrates that it's a really serious new player in the grind game. Rooted in the grind tradition with the relentlessly fast and straight to your face songs, the drum sound and playing, the vocals, etc., but also influenced by grind modernity (looks like they did a good job in learning the Nasum or Rotten sound lessons! the grindpunk parts, the clean and powerfull sound) their record is really promising and a good surprise. They know how to blast mercilessly and groove in the same song and that's the key to good grindcore! (their song "innoncence" for exemple is a good proof of that!).

dimanche 1 juillet 2012

Black shape of nexus-Negative black

If you like your music deep black, heavy and noisy you'll be more than pleased by Black shape of nexus (B.son) new record called Negative black (for good reasons!). The first instrumental track starts with distortion, then heavy guitars arrive, and you're in for a long slow sludge/doom torment for the whole record. A torment made of hypnotic droning rythm, heavy and noisy lowwww tuned guitars, a bit of electronics to add more noisy sounds, and a few screamed vocals here and there. between the more hypnotic parts you also have some heavy groove moments. All that makes an impressive record. Highly recommended!

The band agreed to answer to my questions so thanks to them you can read it below:

-had you a precise idea of the music youll play when you formed B.son ?how do you see the evolution of the band since the first days up to now?JAN: The idea for forming B.son was to play slow and heavy stuff, nothingmore nothing less. First we had no drummer and no singer, therefore thesongs tended more towards drone. With Marco and Malte joining, thepossibilities grew and until today, we are constantly experimenting withsound, atmosphere and dynamics.

-do you play or have played in other bands?

STEF: I guess most of us played before in other bands. I have another bandat the moment, which is called GHOST OF WEM. The next release planned forlater this year is a split 12" with SHADOW OF THE TORTURER.

-what about your new record Negative black? How was it written andrecorded/produced? Have you done things differently this time?

JAN: Songs were written through countless rehearsals and recorded byourselves. Luckily Ralf, who also plays guitar in B.SON, knows how to getour sound tracked on tape and therefore we don´t have to enter a studio torecord. I think to only difference in terms of recording is, that Ralfgrows more experienced from recording to recording, so that we are gettingcloser and closer to capturing our live sound on record.

STEF: Some of the songs base on riffs that are very old, which havefinally been worked out and arranged. As for the recording process, wefirst thought about the opportunity to record in a studio, but thenfigured this wouldn't do it for us for serveral reasons.

-how do you see Negative black in the evolution of the band?

JAN: In my opinion the songs are the most "listenable" one we recorded sofar. Still they have a dark edge, which is somehow lurking in the songs.

STEF: Since I joined only one and a half years ago, I just can tell youabout the old songs from a listeners point of view. And i loved the oldstuff and I still really love to play VI or VIIIe which we still dosometimes live. I guess we moved on, not saying forward or backward. Justchanging in the direction some.

-what about the artwork of the record?

JAN: The artwork was done by our local fellow Sahba Yadegar. He is closeto us for ages, so it seems natural to ask him to do the artwork. Besidedoing art stuff, he´s also active with his band Whalerider. Check them outat http://www.facebook.com/whaleride.

-how are your live shows? Do you focus more on playing your songs as wellas you can or on trying to make your shows a special and unique sonic experience?

JAN: Haha, when it comes to playing live we are more like Punks. Liveshows are not about playing as good as we can, but living the songs andcreating some kind of emotional catharsis.

STEF: I totally agree with Jan, it's just about realising the energy. Verypunk in many ways!

-with what kind of bands do you play usually? Do you prefer playing withbands playing music in the same vein or with bands playing something completelydifferent? Or just playing with cool people no matter whats their music?

JAN: So far we played with all kind of bands ranging from Hardcore/ Punkto Metal. Personally I enjoy playing alongside bands I also want to seefor myself. Nothing is more boring than playing with bands, that soundlike 128473rd Isis/ Neurosis clones. YAWN!

-what do you think of the evolution of the doom/sludge/drone scene thesedays? exiting...or not that much?JAN: As in other genres there are good bands and bands that tend to boreme. Ones I like recently are Magic Circle or Lazarus Blackstar. Inaddition I´m looking forward to the new Samothrace LP!!!

-on you site you state clearly that your are anti fascist /anti sexist inorder not to be confused with some fascist bands. Is this a big problem in Germanythese days, or is it just in the area where youre from? (edit : my question wasn't clear enough. I meant : is it encountered more often than usual where you are? I also think that everywhere it is a problem).JAN: It´s not about it being a problem or not, it´s about making a stand.Politics are a part of all our lives and we don´t want to be part of anyright-wing activities. So if you are a nazi dumbass, don´t come to ourshows, don´t buy our records, because we hate you!

-what is planned for Black shape of nexus for the rest of 2012 and for thefuture?JAN: Playing shows, having fun, staying untrue.